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• Big Brother 2008 (UK)
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Ruthiepoos and Darren getting boozed up at the Bar-be-cue

• The holiday home was lovely. Right across from the beach, lovely little terrace. Darren and I played the "manniversary" card to ensure that we got the only room with the rumpy pumpy double bed. Hurrah, etc.
• We all played the board game version of Goldenballs on the friday night. I am mortified at how quickly a tightknit group of friends will turn on each other for fake money!!
• Saturday morning was gorgeous - Darren and I went to the indoor water park. The Saturday Dads in Wales are well buff. So many six packs! Shame about the faces, etc.
• The wave pool there was vicious. I was bruised and scraped (though might have been from the double bed usage the night before) - and then it rained over the wave pool. Darren pretended he was in Perfect Storm. I booted some little fat boy out the way in order to get out of the pounding rain. I don't always enjoy a good pounding you know...
• I got very "sun-kissed" in the walk along the beach. I never tan, the redness just fades to white. So now i have a reddish face and big white panda eyes where my sunglasses were. Why Darren finds this hysterical is beyond me.
• There were far too many seagulls hovering greedily as I ate my fish and chips on the pier. One was eyeing me up so ferociously that I was pretty sure it was coming on to me and (to quote Phoebe from Friends) please, that is never going to happen. I'm scared of birds.
• The four of us went to look round some of the new holiday homes. The saleslady automatically assumed that Ruth was my sister. Not my wife. How presumptious of her.
• She then said that "the entertainment staff would love you" (meaning me, not you the person reading this) and asked was I in entertainment?! What can she mean?!
• Finally, she felt the need to confide that she loved the gays. She always felt so "safe" in their presence. I nearly ruined that belief by headbutting her, but then I decided that she was probably totally safe in the company of "straights" also. Hers was an inner beauty.
• I got a bit tipsy on wine waiting for the BBQ to be done and spent the whole time dancing around the terrace to the Priscilla Queen Of The Desert - The Musical Soundtrack. You could see the neighbours looking over and thinking either "Oh god there goes the neighbourhood" or more likely "Hurrah. The neighbourhood has arrived. The pink pound is here!"
• Priscilla Queen Of The Desert - The Musical Soundtrack is very good indeed. I do enjoy a nice operatic version of Confide in Me.
• Talking of Kylie, the freemason's radio edit of The One is too delish for words.
• Finally, the four of us spent far too long drunkenly playing Balderdash. Below, for your viewing "pleasure" is a youtube video of one of the rounds. It's probably only funny if you were there though. Darren nearly wet himself. Note my quick looks of bewilderment - i was somewhat sober by this point...
  
  

I have known Ruthie since 1997 (so next year is our ten year anniversary - we should go to glastonbury as well as v!) and she is one of the funniest, warmest, most genuine, non-judgemental people I have ever had the privilege to know. Not only is she super lovely, she shares almost exactly the same musical tastes as me (she draws the line at mcfly and the debs), is a brilliant concert buddy and is as passionate about buffy, gilmore girls and veronica mars as i am. In short, she is the best lady loving lady a 'mo could wish to have. Happy Birthday :)

(i got this song yesterday and instantly knew ruth would love it!)

MP3: Scissor Sisters - I Don't Feel Like Dancing (Linus loves Vox mix)

ps - it would be rude not to leave ruth a birthday greeting even if you don't know her!!
pps - check out her equally lovely sisters myspace site

Warning! Warning! this is going to be one incredibly long post so grab a cup of tea/coffee/pint of gin and settle in. And although i always welcome comments, this time i'm actively encouraging them as we want to print them off and keep them as part of the "memento box" for the day...

Right on with business... The civil partnership of Paul and Darren! On Friday night, we went out to dinner at the loft lounge with my best (wo)man Ruth and her girlfriend Lou which was just a lovely way to relax and chill out before the big day... the staff at the loft lounge - i think his name was John - were so incredibly friendly and enthusiastic it was hard not to order one of their delicious deserts ;) Darren practically had to role me home! Then we went into our apartment garden and took some practice photos (me and darren above, ruth and lou looking lovely below) for where we would take some more official photos on the day... then it was off to bed for about 4 hours sleep!

Saturday - the civil partnership of Paul and Darren! I was woken up at six am by darren prodding me rather hard yelling in my ear "ARE YOU AWAKE YET?!" repeatedly. It's pretty hard not to be awake when that is going on, so I decided I should probably get up. We were joined by family and friends for a rather chaotic wedding breakfast which just zoomed by as we got our hair cut by our brilliant hairdresser friend Paul Hair (that's not his real name - well his name is Paul, we just call him Hair to differentiate from me!), had showers and got our outfits ready for the day. Before we knew it, it was time for some photos outside before we left for the registry office...

What we didn't realise was that the sun would be directly in our eyes as we took the photos in the morning (as opposed to last night!) so everyone is squinting and grimacing big time, but it really was a happy occasion! The above pic is about the best one and from left to right is my dad, mom, me, darren, darren's mom and step dad...

Now as we walked to the registry office, Darren and I did that comedy moment where we both pretended we had forgotten the rings until we realised that actually neither of us had the rings. Cue an extremely few tense moments of unspoken blame and a very game Ruth running in the sweltering heat back to our apartment to hunt for them. Cue a ten minute phonecall with our other friend Bernice who was rolling round on our bedroom floor in her best dress searching for the rings, which I believe ended up exactly where we said they would be! Ruth then arrived at the registry office, make up and sweat pouring down her face with about two minutes to spare. And we appeared so ungrateful! We just snatched (but ruth likes snatch so its ok!!) the rings off her and ran in to do our pre ceremony bit! How Rude! but really we were incredibly grateful to Ruth - she really helped make the day go smoothly for us :)

Ahh, the ceremony - it seemed to go really quickly so I will have to watch the video back later (which i will YouTube post later in the week...) I remember getting very teary when we exchanged rings and pledged our love and devotion. And Darren's hands were very sweaty. Our kiss was very classy although to be quite honest I was so overcome with love I coulda just dropped to the floor right there and then and made nasty music, but its not the thing to do really is it? The lady in the pic above was the person who performed our ceremony and she was just lovely, put us at ease, made a few jokes and was just very warm and likeable. I really believe she made our ceremony special by being so nice :) PS - we look like extras from Oliver Twist!!

After the ceremony, with my ring feeling very new on my finger we posed for some more pics in the sweltering heat outside and heard all the crowds from the pubs cheer insanely - we thought for us of course, but no, England had scored a goal! Apparently there was some football match on today too. How inconsiderate of Becks!

Walking into the reception to a crowd of about 75 friends and family was way more nerve wracking than the ceremony itself... We came down the stairs to cheers and applause and thousands of camera flashes going off in our faces (love that we posed in front of the ladies toilets and darren had his bar tubos fan in his hand!). We were and still are truly overwhelmed by how lovely people were on the day and how genuinely pleased they were for us. At this point I have to say that the staff and owners of Glamourous show bar went way above and beyond our expectations with what they provided, including a cabaret show and a complimentary bottle of champagne... If you are ever in Birmingham, please pop into this bar, you won't get a warmer welcome and again, the efforts of the team at Glam really elevated our reception from amazing to unsurpassable.

Now the following photos are some of the guests at the party...

Above are Sweet and Sour Lizzie Maguire and I (top) and michael and Jackie - some of the people and friends I used to work with at Penderels where I was for four years and was a great place to work... which may beg the question why don't i work there anymore. Well I ask myself the same thing recently... but i was thrilled that so many of the penderels gang turned up and thanks to Lucy for being unofficial photographer :)

Best dressed apart from darren and I went to Matt and Claire (top) and Leona and her hunky new beau (bottom) Claire had this gorgeous red number on and Matt I think excelled in the smart casual look with his vaguely David Tennant Dr Who inspired ensemble with converse trainers that weren't converse trainers but actually from New Look! Well done that man! And Leona and her fella made a very stunning couple :)

Ruth and Harona did amazing speeches that made us laugh, cry and cringe with embarrassment (how dare Ruth reveal that I used to make her practice Steps dance routines with me!!) but were ultimately very lovely and touching. My dear friend Kirsty did a gorgeous reading for us from Captain Corelli's Mandolin which got a collective AWWWW and was extremely well read :)

Then Glamour (Pedro - co~owner of the bar with Paul) did some great cabaret for us and was gracious enough to pose for a pic with me and my very drunk friend Sue. Guess which one is Sue...

This post in no way can encapsualate the emotions and laughter and joy that made this day memorable for me, darren and our friends and family. The two pics above I think says a lot - our handsome couple-friends Simon and Mark (top) sat in traffic for hours to attend, threw themselves into the preceedings with their and now our new friend Quick Finger Melanie Felony and just radiated warmth and enthusiasm throughout the evening. We were so glad they were there :) And Darrens friend Mark and his new boyfriend Craig bought that new exciting relationship vibe to the preceedings which i think is so romantic at weddings. Craig is a lovely guy and we had fun chatting to them throughout the day!

But all too soon the day came to an end. It was truly an amazing day and I can't thank enough all the people that made it so, and the many many messages I had from friends who couldn't attend, the random but lovely strangers who bought us champagne and the hotel for upgrading us to a suite! You all made a great day unforgettable :)

EDIT ALERT!

• this is the link to glamourous show bar!
• and click here and here for two lovely shout outs from bloggers who are just too smashing for words :)

First of all it was absolutely freezing out last night, and for the sake of fashion and not queueing up at the coat check thingy I chose to wear something fairly summery which i forever regret because it is now 24 hours later and my nipples still haven't retracted. Plus I had to ask some random stranger if my ears were still there as I could no longer feel them :(

Then we had to wait in a long queue outside to pick up our tickets (i think this was when the majority of my nipple damage was caused!) When we finally got to the front of the line, some bloke barged past us and went to walk straight in until Beefy Bouncer Guy stopped him. He mumbled something in the bouncers ear, then turned to us and said "you think i would be able to get in my own concert" before running into the building! Shit the bed ~ it was only the bloody lead singer. I think his name is Dan. Aaah lifestyles of the rich and the famous!

Finally inside and it was the upstairs part of the venue which is quite small. We wandered around and were looking at the merchandise which consisted of two poxy tshirts - as we were the only people looking at the stand the guy asked if we were going to buy anything. I asked if he was on commission and we all had a good titter at that. Even though clearly its nowhere near anything remotely resembling humourous. But then he was replaced by some buxom wench who my friend Ruth reliably informs me had nice boobs. ooookaaaaay. But Christ on a bike! The bloke was only the drummer in the band (although i didn't realise this til he was on stage!) Aaah lifestyles of the rich and the famous! Part two.

Now the feeling may tell you that they are the return of soft rock but let me tell you, that band is full of hard rocking amigos! There certainly are similarities to maroon five which is ok by me as la cinque are one of my fave new bands of the past couple of years. But from beginning to end, The Feeling owned the stage and the crowd and every song played felt like an old favourite as was instantly catchy. I am now kvelling that I will see them at V festival and would go and see them in Wolverhampton in June but I will be on my homomoon... I have a feeling (ba dom tssk) that Fill My Little World will be released again next, but if Never Be Lonely and Love It When You Call aren't singles in the future I may die :(

Setlist:

I want you now/helicopter/it could have been anyone/fill my little world/rosie/never be lonely/world is in your hands/sewn/love it when you call

MP3: Love It When You Call
MP3: Never Be Lonely

These mp3s are presented so you can sample this marvelous band. Please listen and then go and buy every release they have as they are new Fizzypop faves :)

So tonight was the night I got to see Mr A-Z play live at the Birmingham Bar Academy. I was pretty upset that I didn't get to see him play at Borders earlier in the day, as I heard it was amazing. Apparently there were about 30 people there and he did an 8 song acoustic set and then chatted with the people there. Curse my stupid equality and diversity training course at work! Still, i togged up in my best geek in the pink outfit and dragged my friend Ruthie up to the academy to get a good view...

And get a good view we did - I was able to get some really good pics as you can see... The support act was some Journey South wannabes, and I was bursting with anticipation by the time Jason came on... He just kinda meandered on stage with just a guitar and some guy playing a little bongo drum thingy. And he was utterly charming and mesmerising from the start...

He started off with Plane and then did a really great version of I'd Do Anything mixed with One Love - his song from the Gap Cd promotion he did last year... He went through most of his hits as you can see from the set list below. What doesn't come across all the time on his discs is how amazingly powerful his voice is and what great control he has over it. Halfway through You and I Both he turned into a gorgeous acoustic ballad before building it back up to a more upbeat singalong song... and during the remedy he sang it in many different styles including that of a 4 year old and that of an opera singer, which - though hilarious - was actually really good.

I was excited that he sang I'm Yours as the final song before the encore and stretched it out as long as he could. Its one of my favourite songs of his :) He came back on and apologised saying he had been told he had run out of time (stupid noise laws!) before launching into my all time fave Mraz number Life Is Wonderful. What a perfect way to finish the show - although it was clear he had intended to play Wordplay and Geek In The Pink as the final tracks but sadly wasn't allowed. Still an amazing show and I am really tempted to go and see him in Wolverhampton in May...

Setlist:

Plane/Anything>One Love/"I really had it made"/Please Don't Tell Her/ Curbside Prophet/You and I Both/Sleeping to Dream/"Ain't It Nice"/The Remedy/O Lover/No Doubling Back/I'm Yours

Encore: Life Is Wonderful

This is possibly the smallest concert I have been to - certainly since me and about 50 other people went to see the magnificent Symposium at JB's in Dudley back in 1997... Bar Academy is tiny and there have to be about 45 people there including the bar staff. Most of them are about 10 years younger than my friend Ruth and I so we instantly feel old and out of place :(

Luckily that meant we were able to get up close and personal with the band and were so close to the front that we could see lead singer Emma (who is oh so pretty ~ Ruth was visibly drooling) hem coming undone on her basque! A bit of magi-hem will fix that love ;)

Even though the show was only half an hour long (!) the set was really amazing - The Modern are the shameful love child of when the Scissor Sisters had a pity shag with the Human League and I love it! The singles Jane Falls Down and Industry were brillo, but there were some other choice cuts too, especially 7 seas (?) which deserves to be number one for 4 weeks...

So electroclashpop rules and Girls Aloud fans who have outgrown Girls Aloud (can you ever outgrow Girls Aloud??) should check them out right now!

Setlist:

Jane Falls Down
Discotheque Francais
Sometimes
7 Seas
Fool In Love
Industry
Tokyo Girls